Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to Mode Shift Revenue Support grants on the volume of rail and road freight in the UK; and what steps he is taking to ensure that roads across the UK are able to handle increased volumes of HGV transportation as a result of those changes.

The final number of lorry journeys that the Department for Transport’s Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) funding will have helped to remove from Britain’s roads in 2016/17 is not yet known. The maximum number is 983,162, but current estimates are that it will be about 17,000 fewer.

Funding allocated at the Department’s first bid round for 2017/18 and 2018/19 will help to remove up to 796,854 and 776,497 lorry journeys respectively. There are further bid rounds to come, which may increase the figures or alter what is covered by this grant and the parallel Waterborne Freight Grant scheme.

Since applications for grant are prioritised on the basis of value for money, the services that are allocated funding, and therefore the potential impact on the road network, varies from one bid round to another.